Skinning machine



varch 967 P. F. BURCH SKINNING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 11, 1964 TEIFiigmwliu March 21, 1967 P. F. BURCH SKINNING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 11, 1964 INVENTOR.

Z401 F EVFCV/ h 21, 1967 Q P. F. BURCH 3,310,085

SKINNiNG MACHINE Filed March 11, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 5' INVENTOR,

P. F. BURCH March 21, 1967 SKINNING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed March 11, 1964 INVENTOR 2401 f? aura/v JTTJF/l/EKS March 21, 1967 Filed March 11, 1964 P. F. BURCH SKINNING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent 3,310,085 SKINNING MACHINE Paul F. Burch, Rockford, Mich, assignor to Wolverine Shoe & Tanning Corporation, Rockford, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed Mar. 11, 1964, Ser. No. 351,246 12 Claims. (Cl. 146-130) This invention relates to a skinning machine, and more particularly to a highly versatile skinning machine especially suitable for skinning either double or single hogsides on an automated basis in an exactly controlled manner.

The growth in recent years of a consumer recognition of and demand for high quality, tough, comfortable footwear and clothing articles made of treated pigskin has required the foot-wear manufacturer, such as the assignee herein, to purchase considerably more skins from sources such as packing houses. Since packing houses must usually incorporate -a skinning machine directly into the heart of their high speed packing lines, the skinning machine must be completely reliable. Also, since bacon, one of the most valuable products of hogs, is a substantial share of the material removed from the skin during the skinning operation, the machine should not waste any of the :bacon product. If a skinning machine cannot meet both of these two stringent requirements, it is not acceptable to the packing house owners from whence the skins must be obtained. However, in efforts to meet these conditions, if the skin is damaged during removal of the bacon and fatback as by skin puncture, cutting, or gouging, the skin is not useful to the footwear manufacturer. Consequently, the skinning operation must be performed very exactly to satisfy all of these seemingly inconsistent requirements.

Moreover, the skinning machine must be capable of exactly skinning a large number of skins per unit of time, e.g. about twelve single hogsides per minute. This is necessary to maintain a speed of the packing line sufficient to avoid creating a production bottle neck.

The hogskins used by the footwear manufacturer are conventionally half skins obtained from skinning socalled single hogsides. These are created by the conventional butchering method of splitting the hog clear through, i.e. through the belly and through the backbone. The single hogside, after removal of the rib cage and loins, and when it is to be skinned, is conventionally gripped along the fatback at the backbone area, and pulled around a drum past a skinning blade. The resulting skins are relatively small, and therefore, involve considerable waste skin around the edge once a substantial piece of skin is removed from the center to make a shoe. The larger whole skin from a double hogside naturally lends itself to more eflicient yields when cutting pieces of pigskin from it. A double hogside is obtained by splitting along the belly but not clear through the back. Another advantage of skinning double hogsides is the lesser amount of subsequent flashing necessary to remove residual fat from the skin. This is because the thick, tough fatback is all removed in the skinning operation rather than being partially retained in the clamp during skinning to require later removal of fleshing.

Due to the characteristics of the hogs bodily makeup, the skin is thinnest at the center of the belly along the teat strip, and gradually gets thicker around the sides of the hog, with its thickest point being along the middle of the back adjacent the backbone. When gripping a single hogside along the split back and pulling past a skinning knife according to conventional methods, the suspended blade gradually rides from the thickest portion at the gripped back, over the tapered skin down to the thinnest portion at the belly. However, when "ice skinning double hogsides, one of the belly edges must be gripped and pulled past the blade. Therefore, the skinning starts at the middle of the belly, and specifically the middle of the teat strip, continues across one side to the thick skin and tough fatback area adjacent the backbone area, at the half-way mark, and then along the opposite side to the middle of the belly again.

It has been determined with extensive experimentation by the inventor herein that the skinning knife has a definite tendency to slice right through the skin at the middle of the back when the double hogside skinning operation is half complete. This not only damages the skin and causes it to be wasted, but it also ruins meat on the skin, and completely disrupts the high speed packing house line since the ruined product must be carefully removed from the drum and salvaged to the extent possible. Consequently, it has been determined by the inventor herein that the blade has to have a particular unique movement when skinning dou'ble hogsides to prevent this damage and costly disruption.

Another factor involved with the building and operation of skinning machines, and especially a double hogside skinner, is the definite reluctance on the part of meat packers to change over from their age-old butchering methods of splitting the hogs down the middle of the backbone to the completely different butchering method where the backbone is only partially split to allow the side to be laid open, but kept in its double form so that the skin and attached meat remain in one piece. When the individual packers are convinced to change over, they naturally want to do it on a gradual basis, butchering only a fraction of their hogs according to the new method to satisfy themselves as to its practicality. However, skinning machines cost many thousands of dollars and cannot ordinarily be set up in duplicate in a packing plant, with one to handle single hogsides and the other especially adapted to handle double hogsides. Consequently, to be economically feasible, and to be acceptable to the packers, the very same skinning machine must be capable of skinning both single and double hogsides alternately, with the change over being effected in a few seconds of time by an operator relatively unskilled with machinery.

Double side skinning also usually involves still another problem pertaining the underarm skinon the ihogside under the front legs and shoulder area. In this area on both sides of the double hogside, the skin has a tendency to protrude upwardly when the rest of the double hogside is laid out flat or on an are around the drum. Consequently, when the hogside moves with the drum past the horizontal skinning blade, the underarm skin projects above the blade and is sliced off, causing two hunks of skin to end up on the choice bacon-type meat removed from the skin. Since this skin is undesirable on the bacon, it must be carefully manually re moved by a skilled meat cutter, causing wasted time and expense to the great displeasure of the meat packer. Also, it has been found that double hogsides tend to curl up somewhat on the edges, to thereby contribute to this undesired possibility.

With these and other related problems in mind, the following objects of this invention are set forth.

It is firstly an important object of this invention to provide a unique double side skinning machine capable of actually skinning up to at least ten double hogsides per minute, yet without damage to the hogsides, not even at the backbone area. The skin is not severely sliced, cut, or punctured in its important portions, but remains in one whole piece for optimum yields. Moreover, the meat products, especially the valuable bacon product removed from the skin, is not damaged or wasted.

It is another object of this invention to provide a double side skinning machine capable of high speed production to produce excellent quality whole skins and undamaged meat, and also substantially free of breakdown or failure to cause a bottleneck in the meat production line. Furthermore, controlled blade action prevents severing of the double hogside at the backbone, in spite of the thick skin and other peculiar characteristics of this zone.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a skinning machine not only capable of handling double hogsides with speed, accuracy and dependability, but also capable of immediately being switched over to efficiently handle single hogsides. Only one of the unique machines need be incorporated into a packing line, therefore, to be capable of alternately handling both single and double hogsides with equal facility and dependability, one after the other, in spite of the very different problems encountered with these sides.

Another object of this invention is to provide a skinning machine adapted to handle hogsides, especially double hogsides, having the troublesome protruding underarm skin, yet with the resulting meat being free of this skin. The skinning machine has a unique skin hold-down roller control to eifect proper skinning even of this portion. The machine is also capable of readily handling chilled hogsides that have been kept, for example, over a weekend, and which are relatively stiff and difficult to conform to the drum configuration during the skinning operation.

These and several other objects of this invention will become apparent upon studying the following specification in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the input side and one end of the skinning machine of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the output side of the machine illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary, perspective view of the opposite end of the machine illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, perspective view of the hogside clamping mechanism on the drum showing the clamp in its full open position;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, enlarged, perspective view of the clamping mechanism in FIG. 4 showing the clamp in its fully closed position;

FIG. 6 is a sectional, enlarged, elevational view of a portion of the drum and clamping mechanism while closed;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary, plan view of a section of skin showing its relationship to the clamp;

FIG. 8 is a sectional, enlarged, fragmentary view of the air supply system to the cylinders controlling the clamping mechanism;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken on plane IX-IX of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary, enlarged view of a portion of the blade support and shifting mechanism for the novel skinning machine;

FIG. 11 is a schematic wiring diagram of the control system for this skinning machine;

FIG. 12 is a diagrammatic illustration of the skinning operation; and

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of one form of special hold-down roller control mechanism.

Referring specifically to the drawings, basically the shinning machine assembly 10 includes a framework subassembly 12, a drum subassembly 14 having a drive subassembly 16, a clamping snbassembly 18 on the drum, a blade supporting and control shifting subassembly 20, a hold-down roller subassembly 22, an operational sequence control subassernbly 24 (FIG. 11), a clamp actuating subassembly 26 (FIG. 3), an air control s-ubassembly 28 for the clamping cylinders, and a pressure roller control subassembly 30. In addition, an alternate pressure roller control subassembly 32 is shown in FIG. 13.

The framework 12 may take any of several suitable forms, being merely a supporting mechanism for all of the components of this assembly. It is shown in its simplest form in the drawings to prevent further confusion of the complex mechanism. It includes a plurality of four upright legs 40, 42 (FIG. 1), 44 and 46 (FIG. 2) with interconnected cross braces 48, 50 (FIG. 1), 52 (FIG. 2), and other supplemental vertical and horizontal supports, e.g. 54, 56, 58 (FIG. 3) to mount the various elements. The framework is of conventional steel construction formed of channel iron, square beams, plates, and so forth.

The drum subassembly 14 comprises a generally cylindrical element, normally formed of steel construction, preferably stainless steel for sanitary purposes. It has a diameter of three to five feet. Since it is specifically designed to accommodate double hogsides, and since large hogs can have a considerable circumference, the drum must be sufficiently large to accommodate these. It is normally formed of a thick peripheral skin 60 (FIG. 6) and a pair of end plugs 62 (FIG. 2) and 64 (FIG. 3) to seal the ends and provide a rigid construction. In the periphery of the drum, extending axially of the drum, is a ditch or notch 66 (FIGS. 1 and 6) several inches in its arcuate extent and normally extending from one end of the drum to the other. The drum is rotatably mounted on a pair of end shafts 70 (FIG. 8) suspended in bearings 72 (FIG. 8) and 74 (FIG. 3) attached to the framework.

The drum is rotatably driven by a drive mechanism 16 including an electrical motor 78, a gear box reduction mechanism having an output shaft which drives a chain 82. This chain in turn engages sprocket 84 on the drum shaft to rotate it. Obviously, this particular drive mechanism may be substituted by an equivalent mechanism without departing from the invention as will be understood from the description that follows.

Positioned within notch 65 is the hogside clamping H subassembly 18. This clamping subassembly is particularly unique in providing an effective gripping action for the belly portion of double hogsides, while only taking a relatively small bite on the skin and attached rneat. As will be understood hereinafter, however, the clamp is also equally effective on single hogsides for gripping the fatback area where the hog is split along the backbone. The clamp itself includes three essential components a lower, fixed, elongated, gripping jaw on one arcuate side of the ditch, a second, elongated, shitfitab'le, cooperating gripping jaw 92 intermediate the two arcuate sides of the notch, and an anchor clamp bar 94 shiftable with the second jaw, and shiftable with respect to both the first and second jaws.

The lower jaw 90 extends from end to end in the drum and may be attached by its flange 91 to the drum. It has a plurality, preferably three, elongated teeth-type ribs 96 which extend its length for effective gripping action. It also includes a plurality of small pin-receiving recesses 98 spaced longitudinally along its length.

The second jaw 92 also extends the length of the drum, and is ositioned to cooperate with the first jaw. Specif ically, it includes a plurality of teeth-type gripping ribs 100 which interengage or intermesh with teeth 96 of the first jaw to grip a hogside when the clamp is closed. It likewise includes a plurality of orifices 102 extending clear through the depth of the clamp from top to bottom, co-inciding with orifices 98 in the lower jaw.

The anchor bar 94 likewise extends the length of the clamp or substantially thereto, and includes a plurality of spaced puncture pins 104 positioned at spaced intervals to fit into openings 102 and down through the hogside slightly into the recesses 98 in the lower jaw.

The three elements, when shifted together, cooperate effectively to grip a narrow section along the belly of the hogside (illustrated schematically in FIG. 7) and specifically along the teat strip edge. That is, the two clamps efiectively grasp those protruding portions of the hogside 110 (FIG. 7) which project within the confines of the gripping jaws. The severed edges of the belly are often very irregular in configuration as illustrated in slightly exaggerated fashion in FIG. 7. The puncture pins 104 pass through the hogside to secure a very effective grip on the small edge portion, even though the bite is relatively narrow (about 1 /2") compared to the very deep bite (about 3-4) regularly taken by conventional skinning machines. When the jaws are closed for this clamping mechanism, both jaw 92 and anchor bar 94 are shifted simultaneously. Likewise, they both open practically simultaneously. The withdrawal or retraction of the pins when pulled back through openings 162 effectively wipes off the pigskin from the gripper. The pins pull out of the skin using jaw 92 as a wiper. The elements, therefore, not only cooperate uniquely when clamping the skin, but also cooperate uniquely when releasing the skin after the operation is completed.

Actuation of the the clamping mechanism utilizes the apparatus shown more specifically in FIG. 3 and in FIGS. 8 and 9. As stated previously, lower jaw 90 is fixed in the ditch. The upper jaw 92 has its opposite ends supported on a pair of arms 120 (FIG. 3) and 122 (FIG. I). These arms are attached at their radially outer ends to the jaw and are pivotally attached at the radially inner ends to the drum at 124. This pivotal mount may be either coaxial with the rotational axis of the drum or may be eccentric to the axis of the drum. Operating this pair of arms is a pair of fluid cylinders, including cylinder 128 (FIG. 3) and a like fluid cylinder on the opposite end of the drum. Each of these fluid cylinders has one end affixed to the drum and the opposite end attached by means of a clevis 13% intermediate the ends of the individual arms 120 and 122. Extension of the cylinders, therefore, shifts the movable jaw away from the fixed jaw, while contraction of the cylinders shifts the movable jaw toward the fixed jaw to clamp them together.

Attached to each of the arms 120 and 122 is a pair of extended mounting brackets or mounts 134 (FIG. 3). These are aflixed to arms 120 and 122. Pivotally attached to these mounts at 140 is a pair of second end arms, i.e. arm 138 on one end of the drum and a like arm on the opposite end of the drum. This pivot mount is at one end of these arms, with anchor bar 514 being attached to the other ends of the arms. Movement of these arms allows the anchor bar to be shifted with respect to the movable jaw. However, movement of the movable jaw also carries along this apparatus with it. Extending between each of arms 138 and each of mounts 135 is a second pair of fluid cylinders, i.e. cylinder 146 and a like cylinder on the other end of the drum. This pair of fluid cylinders shifts arms 138 with respect to the mounts, and therefore, moves the anchor bar toward or away from the movable jaw and the fixed jaw.

Normally, as will be understood more specifically hereinafter, the fluid cylinders for the movable jaw and the fiuid cylinders for the anchor bar are operated simultaneously to close the jaws and to cause the anchor bar to engage into a completely interengaged assembly, or alternatively, to open the three elements from each other. It will be realized that with the specific arrangement of the fiuid cylinders 146 and 128, for example in FIG. 3, to do this, cylinder 128 must extend while cylinder 146 contracts, and cylinder 128 must contract while cylinder 146 extends. This can be readily achieved by connecting common hoses to the lower end of cylinder 128 and the lower end of cylinder 126, and making a common connection to the upper ends of cylinders 128 and 146. Consequently, compressed air is either allowed to shift the cylinders simultaneously in one direction or the other. Since the operating mechanism on the opposite end of the drum would appear like a mirror'image of FIG. 3, this is not shown.

Control of this compressed air to the cylinders is achieved through the control system explained with respect to FIG. 11 hereinafter. The air is supplied to these cylinders, which revolve with the drum, by the mechanism illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9. Referring specifically to FIG. 8, the air supply subassembly 28 adjacent the timer control subassembly 24 includes the bored out end 70 of shaft 70, and a surrounding annular plastic sleeve 160. Air from a "four-way, solenoid, control supply valve 162 (FIG. 1) is supplied through air hoses 164 and 166 (FIG. 1) to fittings 170 and 172 (FIG. 8), respectively, to communicate to passageways 174 and 176, respectively, drilled through the periphery of annular element 160. Passageway 176 communicates with an annular passage 180 in the plastic sleeve around the shaft. This annular passageway communicates with shaft passage 184 that leads into the drilled out cylindrical passageway 186. This passageway 186 likewise leads to passage 188 to outlet fitting 190 mounted on shaft portion 70 to revolve with the unit. This fitting communicates with a hose 191 which divides to supply air to the lower end of the cylinders 146 and 128, and the like pair of cylinders on the opposite end of the drum.

In a similar manner, passage 174 through housing 160 communicates with annular passage 196 around shaft portion 70, which communicates with a through passage 198 drilled through the extended shaft portion, into the cylindrical, axially extending passage 200. This passage 200 communicates through a drilled opening 202 to hose fitting 204. A hose 206 is connected to this fitting and divides into two passageways going to the upper ends of cylinders 128 and 146, and the upper ends of the two like cylinders on the opposite end of the drum. A plurality of O-rings 220, 222 and 224 seal the respective passageways to prevent flow between them during rotation of shaft section 7!) inside sleeve 1611.

Hogsides are fed into one side of the machine when the clamping mechanism is at a 9 oclock position (when viewed from FIGS. 1, l0 and 12) by feeding them in on a suitable conveying means 220 (FIG. 1), preferably cooperating with a powered roller conveyor adjacent thereto. This roller conveyor mechanism 220 may be mounted with one end resting on the framework 12, and the opposite end supported by a U-shaped inverted brace 222 having its lower ends attached to frame legs 40 and 42 by brackets 224 and 226.

Positioned above the drum on a horizontal plane with its sharp edge approximately dead center at 12 oclock over the horizontal drum axis is the skinning blade 230. This blade is an elongated element with a sharp edge spaced a small fraction of an inch from the peripheral cylindrical surface of the drum, as illustrated for example in FIG. 10. The blade itself is supported by having its ends in a pair of mounting supports, each comprising a first L-shaped element 234 with a flange portion 236 underlying the end of the knife, and a cooperating bracket 238 having a tightening nut 240 to push the blade into its mount. Flange 242 of bracket 238 also underlies a portion of the end of the blade to secure it. These bracket mounts are in turn affixed to a pair of parallel straddling arms 248 and 250 (FIGS. 1 and 10) on opposite ends of the drum.

Each of these straddling arms may be generally L- shaped in configuration as shown in FIG. 10, having its short leg extending vertically downwardly on one horizontal side of the drum and its long leg extending past the drum to the opposite side. 7 The short leg of each arm has its lower end mounted on a pivot 250 to the framework, so that shifting of the opposite end will vertically move the blade slightly with respect to the drum surface. A tension coil spring 252 attached to the opposite end of the arm by a bracket 254, and having its lower end secured to framework 12, applies a biasing tension downwardly on the long leg of each arm to pull the mechanism down against a stop means. This stop means preferably is in the form of a pair of cams 258 (FIG. 10) and 260 (FIG. 1). These cams are mounted on a common horizontal shaft 262 (FIG. 1). The shaft is supported in a pair of bearings 264 and 266 (FIGS. 1 and 3) attached to legs 40 and 42, respectively, of the framework. These cams can be rotatably moved or revolved by rotation of their shaft 262, using a manual crank 270 and an intermediate gear box 268. Since the lower end of studs 272 (FIG. 10) and 274 (FIG. 1) rests upon these cams and have their upper bracketed ends attached to arms 248 and 250, operation of crank 27% causes slight vertical manual adjustment of arms 24-3 and 259 and thus slight vertical adjustment of tiny fractions of an inch of the blade edge with respect to the drum to shift it away or toward the drum. Also, automatic cutting depth control is achieved over this blade. To do this, a hoisting mechanism is used, which includes a pair of depending brackets 290 on opposite ends of the unit, attached to both of the arms 248 and 259. Both of these brackets are alike, and include a follower wheel 292 on the lower end engaging a cam 294 mounted on a shaft 2%. Attached to both ends of shaft 296 is a pair of levers 298 (FIG. 3) which extend radially of the shaft. Arcuate shifting of these levers, therefore, revolves cams 294 slightly to cause the cam followers 2% to move from the flat surface on the cam peripheries (FIG. 10) to the adjacent curved, raised surface. This causes the arms to momentarily pivot and raise the knife edge with respect to the drum.

This shifting of levers 298 is achieved through a pair of extensible fluid cylinders 300 having their rods attached to the levers and their other end affixed to the framework (FIG. 3). Since these two cylinders and two levers 2%, as well as brackets 290, are identical on both ends of the apparatus, only one is shown for purposes of convenience in FIGS. 3 and 10. Cylinders 3'00 are supplied with controlled amounts of air, to either one end or the other, by a pair of hoses 3G4 and 306 (FIG. 3) from a four-way solenoid valve 383 controlled by circuit in FIG. 11 in a manner to be described.

During the skinning operation, the drum moves 360 degrees, or one revolution, under normal conditions and stops. However, it is possible to cause the drum to continuously revolve in a manner to be described. For purposes of convenience in describing the apparatus, a 360 degree rotation is considered a complete skinning operation. Referring to FIG. 12, the clamping mechanism ordinarily starts and stops at the 9 oclock position. The hogside 110 can then be fed into the open clamping mechanism 18. Upon closing of the clamp, the drum begins to revolve. Since the skinning blade 230 is at the 12 oclock position with respect to the drum, the skinning operation beings after the drum has moved about 90 degrees. The skin 1105 then moves around with the drum periphery while the meat 110M passes up over the knife surface and onto the discharge conveyor mechanism 339, shown more specifically in FIG. 2. This discharge conveyor may comprise a roller conveyor of segments 330 and 330 leading to the next portion of the meat packing line. It is supported on the framework by braces 334 as in the manner illustrated in FIG. 2.

Referring again to FIG. 12, the skinning operation continues to completely separate the meat from the skin as the drum makes a complete revolution. Ordinarily, when the drum has moved about 180 degrees, so that the clamping mechanism is at the 3 oclock position, the skinning operation is substantially half completed when skinning double hogsides. (When skinning single hogsides, the skinning operation is practically complete at this point.) When skinning double hogsides, the skinning operation is completed after the drum has moved approximately 270 degrees, so that the clamping mechanism is at 6 oclock. The clamp is then opened, causing the skin to drop into a container (not shown) underneath the skinning apparatus, while the drum continues to rotate until the clamp moves again to the 9 oclock position where the drum stops.

During this skinning operation the hold-down roller subassembly 22 is in operation to press the hogside diectly against the drum periphery by rollers 35d before it passes into the blade. The hogside must be pressed directly against the drum because the blade is only a small fraction of an inch off the drum periphery. If the hogside is raised off the drum surface, the blade will slice into the skin and leave rind on the meat, or even through the skin, causing disruption of the entire operation. These hold-down rollers are in the form of a plurality of similar adjacent rollers, for example the 11 rollers illustrated in FIG. 1.

Each of the rollers 350 is rotatably mounted within a generally U-shaped, inverted bracket 352. Each is attached to one end of a leaf spring 354, i.e. one leaf spring for each roller. The leaf springs extend generally tangential to the drum, in the direction of rotation of the drum, and have their opposite ends fixedly attached to a common support bar 35$ (FIG. 2). This support bar has its ends mounted in bearings 36% and 3162 which are in turn attached to the framework. Intermediate the ends of the leaf springs, extending transversely thereof and attached underneath them is a second support bar 37%. When this second support is vertically shifted, the leaf springs and rollers move with it. This enables the rollers to be shifted toward and away from the skinning drum to vary their pressing action. Both ends of support 37-9 are mounted in sleeves 374 and 376 (FIG. 2).

Operably connected to these sleeves is a pair of fiuid cylinders 380 and 382 having their lower ends attached thereto and their upper ends aflixed to a portion of the framework, specifically overhead bar 336. Actuation of these cylinders lifts or lowers the pressure rollers on a controlled basis.

In order to accommodate the double hogsides, it has been found to be important to bias the outer rollers, specifically, the three outside rollers on each end in the form of the invention illustrated, with substantially greater biasing force towards the drum, This is because the side portions of the hog tend to curl up, especially after the hogsides have been stored in a cooler over a weekend. If this curl is allowed to remain when the hogside passes the skinning blade, portions of the skin will be severed and remain on the valuable bacon product so that detailed, careful, manual removal by a skilled meat cutter is necessary. It has been found, however, that by weighting these rollers with a weight bias, for example, of about twice the central rollers, this problem is overcome. For example, if the center rollers have a weight bias of about 13 /2 pounds and the outer rollers have a weight bias of about 27 pounds, the hogside is neatly skinned.

Even with this construction, however, when the underarm portions of the hogside are allowed to remain on the unit by meat packers who do not sever this before skinning, these sections tend to curl up and be severed to leave a portion of skin on the meat. It has been found that this can be effectively controlled utilizing the apparatus in FIG. 13. With this apparatus, each of the outer pressure rollers 35%, specifically the outer three on each side, is provided a fluid cylinder 4% extending between overhead support 386 and the individual brackets of the rollers. The five center rollers are mounted on their leaf springs. The outside rollers, mounted on their leaf springs, also have this auxiliary force supply for each one, so that the exact amount of bias applied by the pressure rollers to the hogside can be greatly increased and controlled. Therefore, when the hogside having underarm portions approaches the skinning blade, the mechanism automatically trips a switch to actuate a solenoid valve which supplies air to these fluid cylinders to actuate them and push the hogside against the drum. This can be controlled according to drum rotation in a manner to be explained hereinafter with respect to the circuitry. Using this mechanism, the underarm skin portions, as well as the remainder of the hogside, are pressed firmly against the drum to move smoothly past the skinning blade without severing a chunk of skin to remain on the meat.

Referring now to FIG. 11, the control of the system is substantially as follows. The operation of each of the components is regulated according to drum rotation. This is achieved, for example, by attaching rotational switch actuator camming elements 500, 502, etc. on the end of shaft portion 70' by bolting them to a fiange 70", so that the timing control cams are rotatably driven with the shaft. Each of these cam discs includes one or more radially extending, switch actuating pins 504 (FIGS. 1 and 8) to selectively actuate a plurality of microswitches 506. Each microswitch is positioned to cooperate with one of the timing cam segments. These radially extending cam fingers are positioned at a particular chosen circumferential location on the drum to actuate their respective limit switch after the skinning drum has moved into a particular rotational position in its cycle. The location of these pins Will be readily understood from the description of the operation of the switching mechanism in FIG. 11.

The control circuitry 600 includes a suitable transformer power supply 602 between bus lines 604- and 606. To indicate operative condition of the circuit, an indicating light 608 is provided across the lines. It will be realized from the description of this circuitry that various other circuit arrangements may be employed for similar results. Also, it may be modified somewhat if certain of the elements which are desirable but not essential, are removed from this mechanism. In the preferred form of the invention, however, the circuit includes solenoid-type air valves to control the clamp, the knife lifter, preferably the main air valve, and preferably the hold-down cylinders in FIG. 13. Since solenoid controlled fourway valves are common, it is not believed necessary to illustrate the exact construction thereof. Rather, in the circuitry, these are illustrated schematically as solenoids. Thus, solenoid 630 controls the main air valve to the entire apparatus. Solenoid 632 controls the valves to the cylinder ends to close the clamp mechanism. Solenoid 634 controls the valve to lift the knife by controlling cylinders 300 (FIG. 3). Solenoid 636 controls the opposite end of the valve that solenoid 632 controls to supply air to the opposite end of the cylinders and open the clamp mechanism. Solenoid 638 controls the opposite end of the four-way valve that solenoid 634 controls, to send air to the opposite end of the cylinders to lift the knife mount. Solenoid 640 controls the valves to the hold-down cylinders used in the modified form in FIG. 13.

The clamp opening solenoid 636 is connected across lines 604 and 606 in series with a microswitch 500, to cause the clamp to open after the drum makes an arcuate movement of about 270 degrees to release the skin. A hand-operated, normally open switch 501 is in parallel around the microswitch 500 to allow the clamp to be opened in case of an emergency or in case of malfunction, to release the skin. The switches shown open are normally open, and the switches shown closed are normally closed.

The drum drive motor 78 is connected by three lines 668, 662 and 664 through the four contacts 666 of a starter switch mechanism of conventional type. The starter also includes a holding coil 668 in series with a pair of overload coils 670. With the circuitry shown, two selector switches 680 and 682 are shown for alternate operation of the drum drive, as well as a two hand drum start switching assembly 684. The motor 78 is thus connected with line 604 by lead 688, and is connected with line 606 through its starter switch contacts by one of a parallel set of leads 690 and 692. The selector switches 680 and 682 may be of the rotational type such that the switch levers 694 and 696 of switch 680 are closed, levers 698 and 700 are open, or vice versa. Likewise, if levers 702, 704, 706 and 708 are closed, levers 719, 712, 714 and 716 are open, or vice versa. When switch 680 is thrown to the left to make contacts to levers 694 and 696, only the main air valve solenoid 630 is actuated,

through the skin layer as the drum rotates.

not the drive motor since the circuit is completed only through leads 604, 688, 692, lever 694, lead 720, solenoid 630 and lead 606. Lever 696 of switch 680 is then dead. If, on the other hand, selector switch 680 is thrown to the right to make contacts through levers 698 and 700, the main air valve is actuated and the motor drive is prepared to be actuated. The main air valve is actuated through the same sequence just recited except through lever 698 instead of lever 694. Switching of selector switch 680 to the right does not actuate the motor immediately, but only prepares the circuit, so that by actuation of switch 682, the motor will operate. If selector switch 682 is shifted to the left, the drum drive is operated continuously so that the motor keeps operating until the drum is stopped. If, however, the selector switch 682 is shifted to the right, the motor will drive the drum one revolution, at which time the drum stop microswitch 740 is opened from its normally closed position by an appropriate pin on a rotating camming disc, to stop the mechanism until it is restarted for another revolution.

Thus, after the unit has made one revolution, when selector switch 682 is thrown to the right, the drum switch 740 is opened to stop the mechanism. The closing clamp solenoid 632 is also actuated when levers 708 and 716 of selector switch 682 are in either position, i.e. continuous drive or one revolution, through the sequentially actuated lower portion 687 of switch 687 to its control microswitch 505. The clamp is thus closed with pushing of the hand button, but microswitch 565 opens after a predetermined rotational angle of about 270 degrees, just prior to actuation of microswitch 500, to positively open the clamp mechanism. This slight delay prevents the opposite ends of the clamp control cylinders from conflicting.

Another selector switch 810 is employed with respect to the control of the knife lifting mechanism, through solenoid valve 308 and cylinders 300 (FIG. 3) that actuate the levers and camming mechanisms for pivoting the knife support arms (FIG. 10). Thus, when selector switch 810 is thrown to the right so that switch levers 812 and 814 are closed, the indicator light 816 is lighted, and the knife is continuously held in a slightly raised position approximately to ,6, of an inch above its normal position. This extended knife elevation is especially desirable after a weekend since the hogsides retained in cold storage are chilled clear through and do not readily conform to the drum configuration. Therefore, it is desirable to shift the blade slightly away from the drum to account for this so that the blade will not slice down into or After these excessively chilled hogsides are handled, and normal hogsides are again encountered, the selector switch 810 is thrown to the left so that contacts 820 and 822 are closed. Lever 820 will contact terminal 824 so that a connection is made from line 604 through lead 830, lever 822, contact 824, lead 834 and thence to microswitch 507 to solenoid 638 for lifting the knife mount, and microswitch 509 to solenoid 634 to lower the knife mount. The two solenoids 634 and 638 are actuated independently and at different time intervals by the pins on the rotating cam mechanism 24 so that they will not conflict.

When skinning double hogsides, microswitch 509 is normally held closed during almost the entire 360 degree interval of rotation. The microswitch 507 is closed only momentarily (while switch 509 is opened momentarily) to raise the knife blade the to of an inch while the backbone portion of the double hogside is passing the skinning blade. This would normally occur when the mechanism has rotated to substantially the position illustrated in FIG. 12, when half of the hogside has passed the skinning blade. Normally, the drum has at this time moved approximately degrees from its initial position so that clamping mechanism 18 is at approximately a 3 oclock position. It has been found that this momentary, slight raising of the blade just as the center of the back passes the blade very effectively allows transition of this portion of peculiar characteristics without the knife slicing through the skin to partially or totally sever one portion from another. Without this raising, extreme difficulties are encountered, even with slight severance, since the skin will pull loose, or shift sideways and curl, just as two examples.

Referring back now to FIG. 11, it will be noted that the lever 822 also can be placed into contact with a second contact 84-6 to complete a circuit from line 664, through lead 830, lever 822, contact 840, lead 859 and thence through the parallel microswitches 511i and 513, alternately, to actuate solenoids 638 and 634, respectively. It will be noted that these microswitches are in parallel with microswitches 507 and 509 to operate the knife mount solenoid valves.

The purpose of this is to enable a single hogside to also be skinned on the same machine. When skinning a single hogside, it is desirable to momentarily raise blade 23%) after the drum has rotated only about 90 degrees, and just as the blade is to slice into the hogsides. This is because the hogside is gripped along the fatback in this instance, Where the skin is the thickest. Therefore, the blade must be lifted momentarily to move into this thicker skin portion and then ride slowly down the tapered portion under the force of the blade biasing springs to the thin belly strip. Consequently, the separate microswitches 511 and 513 are utilized. These are actuated to open switch 513 and close switch 511 momentarily while the skinning starts, and then subsequently to open switch 511 and close switch 513 to allow the knife to again move down. While it is conceivable that mechanical mechanisms could be utilized to achieve this same action, and this is within the broader concept of this invention, it is preferable to do this by the mechanism shown.

When employing the optional solenoid valve 640 for the special air cylinders illustrated on the rollers in FIG. 13, another microswitch 517 is employed to connect the circuit between the lines 604 and 696 on a controlled basis just as the hogside moves under the pressure rollers and prior to its movement into the blade. This switch may be controlled by a rotating cam disc to be closed for approximately 90 to 180 degrees of the drum rotation is desired.

The very brief operation of the apparatus is thus as follows:

A single or double hogside is fed into the unit as necessary. With a double hogside, if a test of the air system is to be made, selector switch 680 is thrown to the left and the test is made. If the unit is to be operated on a single revolution basis, selector switch 680 is thrown to the right and switch 682 is thrown to the right. Vfhen the hogside belly strip is between the jaws of the clamp, push buttons 685 and 687 are closed to actuate the clamp closer, causing the jaws to come together and causing the anchor pins to puncture the teat strip. At the same time, the drum begins to revolve and pulls the hogside past the skinning blade. When the hogside has its backbone adjacent the blade, normally after about 180 degrees of the drum rotation, the blade lifts momentarily to move past the thick, tough backbone area. It then lowers again and rides down the skin to the teat strip until the skinning is complete. After the drum rotates about 270 degrees, the clamp opens, allowing the skin to drop into a suitable container, with the meat previously having passed over the conveyor mechanism illustrated in FIG. 2.

If the hogsides have been chilled over a weekend, and the blade must be lifted during the entire revolution, the selector switch 810 is thrown to the right. At other times, it is thrown to the left so that the momentary blade lifting occurs.

If single hogsides are to be skinned, however, selector switches 680 and 682 are again shifted to the right or in unusual circumstances, selector switch as: is shifted to the left for continuous drum rotation, and selector switch 810 is shifted to the middle so that lead 850 is placed in the circuit. This causes the knife to lift momentarily after about degrees of drum rotation to receive the thickest fatback portion in the clamp. The unit is operated by pressing the palm buttons to begin the rotation. In either case, after the drum has rotated 360 degrees, it stops because of opening of the drum switch on the timer controlled basis.

If the blade is cutting too deep or not deep enough for the particular type of hogs being butchered, it is manually adjusted by the crank mechanism illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 10*. It can thus be controlled to thousandths of an inch very readily.

Actual operation of the described mechanism to re peatedly skin double hogsides, or alternatively, to skin single hogsides, has proven its complete dependability and practicality as far as being a versatile, automated machine capable of operation by meat packers with no mechanical skill. It is realized that the particular details of this complete structure, shown in its preferred form, and which has proven to be very dependable, could be modified to suit particular packing houses, production line set-ups, type of hogs, or butchering methods encountered, without departing from the basic concepts set forth herein. Consequently, this invention is not to be limited to this exact form of detailed construction shown, but only by the scope of the appended claims and the reasonable equivalents thereto.

I claim:

1. A skinning machine capable of skinning in one operation a double hogside having a backbone region in the center thereof, comprising: a supporting framework; a drum rotatably mounted to said framework, and having an elongated, axially extending clamping notch in its periphery; clamping means in said notch for gripping one teat strip belly edge; a skinning knife mounted adjacent said drum, closely spaced a skin thickness from its periphery, to slice meat from a clamped skin moving with said drum; knife mounting means supporting the ends of said knife on said framework; shifting means operably connected between said framework and said knife mounting means, causing the edge of said knife to only momentarily lift slightly away from the periphery of said drum a fraction of an inch when actuated to cause the backbone region of a double hogside to pass said blade without cutting through the skin; and actuator control means operably associated with said shifting means and being constructed and arranged to be only momentarily responsive at the rotational position of said drum when the backbone region is adjacent said knife to momentarily lift said knife said fraction of an inch while said drum passes through said particular position to prevent the blade from cutting through the backbone region of a double hogside, and to drop said blade back said fraction of an inch toward said drum to enable skinning of the remainder of the double hogside.

2. The machine in claim 1 wherein said shifting means comprises air cylinders and camming means operably engaged therewith and with said knife mounting means, and wherein said actuator control means comprises electrical switching means activated by drum rotation and operably connected with pressurized air flow control valves to said air cylinders.

3. The machine in claim 2 wherein said switching means are operably engaged with switch actuator camming means revolving with said drum to actuate said switching means at selected amounts of drum rotation.

4. A skinning machine comprising: a supporting framework; a drum rotatably mounted to said framework; and having an elongated axially extending clamping notch in its periphery; clamping means in said notch; a skinning blade mounted adjacent said drum, closely spaced from its periphery, to slice meat from a clamped skin moving with said drum; knife mounting means supporting the ends of said knife on said frame-work; shifting means operably connected between said framework and said knife mounting means, causing the edge of said knife to lift slightly away from the periphery of said drum a fraction of an inch when actuated; actuator control means operably associated with said shifting means and responsive momentarily with drum rotation at one particular rotational position of said drum, to lift said blade slightly and momentarily while said drum passes through said particular position, thereby enabling double hogsides to be skinned; and said actuator control means including selector means shiftable to cause said knife to lift at a different particular rotational position of said drum, thereby enabling double hogsides and single hogsides to be alternatively skinned on the same machine.

5. The machine in claim 4 wherein said actuator control means comprises microswitch means operably associated with cam actuating means rotating with said drum, and operably associated with said shifting means to momentarily actuate it.

6. The machine in claim 5 wherein said shifting means comprises fluid cylinder means operably connected to said knife mounting means and with solenoid control valve means electrically connected to said microswitch means.

7. The machine in claim 5 wherein said microswitch means comprises electrically parallel microswitch arrangements, said cam actuating means comprises a pair of cam actuator discs for said arrangements to actuate them at different drum rotation position, and said selector means comprises manual switching means capable of actuating selectively one of said microswitch arrangements.

8. A skinning machine comprising: a supporting framework; a drum rotatably mounted to said framework, and having an elongated, axially extending clamping notch in its periphery; clamping means in said notch; a skinning blade mounted adjacent said drum, closely spaced from its periphery, to remove meat from a clamped skin moving with said drum; knife mounting means supporting the ends of said knife; said mounting means comprising a pair of arms, each having one end pivotally attached to said frame-work and the other end biased against stop means; shifting means operably engaged with said arms to pivot said arms away from and toward said drum when actuated thereby to respectively lift and lower said blade a fraction of an inch with respect to said drum; actuator and control means operably connected with said shifting means to controllably pivot said arms.

9. The machine in claim 8 wherein said stop means comprises camming means operably engaged with portions of said arms, and having manual drive means operably connected thereto to enable accurate adjustment of the normal blade position with respect to said drum.

it). In a skinning machine having in combination a supporting framework, a drum rotatably mounted to said framework and having an axially elongated peripheral notch, clamping means in said notch, a skinning knife mounted adjacent said drum, and a plurality of axially aligned hold-down rollers adjacent said knife; said holddown rollers each being supported on one end of an elongated leaf spring element; said spring elements being fixedly attached to said framework at their opposite ends; and additional biasing means on the end rollers to cause each to be biased toward said drum with substantially more force than the central rollers, said biasing means comprising a plurality of extensible cylinders between said individual rollers and said framework, and including actuator control means for said cylinders, operated with drum rotation to apply increased pressure on selected portions of the hogsides.

11. A skinning machine comprising: a supporting framework; a drum rotatably mounted to said framework, and having an axially elongated peripheral notch, clamping means in said notch, a skinning knife mounted adjacent said drum, and a plurality of hold-down rollers adjacent said knife; said hold-down rollers each being supported on one end of an elongated leaf spring element; said spring elements being fixedly attached to said framework at their opposite ends; and biasing means on the end rollers to cause each to be biased toward said drum with substantially more force than the central rollers; an adjustable support element attached to the intermediate portions of all of said leaf springs; extensible cylinders operably connected between said adjustable support element and said framework to shift said rollers away from and toward said drum when actuated; and actuator control means operably associated with said cylinders to enable shifting of said rollers as a unit for accommodating hogsides of different characteristics.

12. A skinning machine comprising: a supporting framework; a drum rotatably mounted to said framework and having an elongated axially extending clamping notch in its periphery; clamping means in said notch; a skinning blade mounted adjacent said drum, closely spaced from its periphery, to slice the meat from the skin of a clamped hogside moving with said drum; knife mounting means supporting the ends of said knife on said framework; said mounting means comprising a pair of arms, each having one end pivotally attached to said framework and the other end biased against stop means; shifting means operably engaged with said arms to pivot said arms away from and toward said drum when actuated thereby to respectively lift and lower said blade a fraction of an inch with respect to said drum; actuator control means operably associated with said shifting means and responsive momentarily with drum rotation at one particular rotational position of said drum, to controllably pivot said arms and lift said blade slightly and momentarily while said drum passes through said particular position; said actuator control means including selector means shiftable to cause said knife to lift at a different particular rotational position of said drum, thereby enabling double hogsides and single hogsides to be alternatively skinned on the same machine; said actuator control means comprising microswitch means operably associated with cam actuating means rotating with said drum, and operably associated with said shifting means to momentarily actuate it; said shifting means comprising fluid cylinder means operably connected to said knife mounting means and with solenoid control valve means electrically connected to said microswitch means; said microswitch means comprising electrically parallel microswitch arrangements, said cam actuating means comprising a pair of cam actuator discs for said arrangements to actuate them at different drum rotation positions, and said selector means comprising manual switching means capable of actuating selectively one of said parallel microswitch arrangements.

References Cited hy the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 638,238 12/1899 Haley et al. 2,155,730 4/1939 Miller 146130 2,649,881 8/1953 Runnells et al. l46130 3,249,139 5/1966 Runnells et al. 146-130 WILLIAM W. DYER, IR., Primary Examiner.

W. GRAYDON ABERCROMBIE, Examiner. 

1. A SKINNING MACHINE CAPABLE OF SKINNING IN ONE OPERATION A DOUBLE HOGSIDE HAVING A BACKBONE REGION IN THE CENTER THEREOF, COMPRISING: A SUPPORTING FRAMEWORK; A DRUM ROTATABLY MOUNTED TO SAID FRAMEWORK, AND HAVING AN ELONGATED, AXIALLY EXTENDING CLAMPING NOTCH IN ITS PERIPHERY; CLAMPING MEANS IN SAID NOTCH FOR GRIPPING ONE TEAT STRIP BELLY EDGE; A SKINNING KNIFE MOUNTED ADJACENT SAID DRUM, CLOSELY SPACED A SKIN THICKNESS FROM ITS PERIPHERY, TO SLICE MEAT FROM A CLAMPED SKIN MOVING WITH SAID DRUM; KNIFE MOUNTING MEANS SUPPORTING THE ENDS OF SAID KNIFE ON SAID FRAMEWORK; SHIFTING MEANS OPERABLY CONNECTED BETWEEN SAID FRAMEWORK AND SAID KNIFE MOUNTING MEANS, CAUSING THE EDGE OF SAID KNIFE TO ONLY MOMENTARILY LIFT SLIGHTLY AWAY FROM THE PERIPHERY OF SAID DRUM A FRACTION OF AN INCH WHEN ACTUATED TO CAUSE THE BACKBONE REGION OF A DOUBLE HOGSIDE TO PASS SAID BLADE WITHOUT CUTTING THROUGH THE SKIN; AND ACTUATOR CONTROL MEANS OPERABLY ASSOCIATED WITH SAID SHIFTING MEANS AND BEING CON- 